The Roots and Culture of the African Diaspora

El Museo Cultural in the Santa Fe Railyard is mounting "The Roots and Culture of the African Diaspora," an exhibition featuring the work of African/American artist, Greta Chapin McGill and Issa Nyaphaga from Cameroon, West Africa. The exhibit will hang throughout February for Black History Month. A public reception takes place on Friday, February 10, from 5 to 7 p.m.

On Friday, February 24, from 5 to 8:30 p.m., El Museo will host a benefit event for Hope International for Tikar People, a charitable organization that provides assistance and support for victims of polio and other crippling conditions in Africa. This year, the HITIP project focuses on the physical challenges of women in rural areas. People are invited to donate money or purchase artwork to benefit disabled women. Since 2009, this project has been supported with the proceeds from music and art events and donations from supporters in the Santa Fe community. Contributions will be welcomed at the event or through the website at: http://www.hitip.org/

Some years ago, Nyaphaga met a severely crippled young man in Cameroon. He was so profoundly moved by how courageously the young
man had transcended his disability that Nyaphaga changed the course of his own life. He founded HITIP and has devoted much of his time and energy to the cause ever since.

Nyaphaga's pointed political cartoons landed him in prison several times in his native Cameroon until he was finally forced to leave the country. His life as an exile took him to France and eventually to the U.S. and Santa Fe.

Greta Chapin McGill is an African/American born, raised and educated on the East Coast and also widely traveled in Europe, where she
eagerly sought out the art she had studied at Howard University. The pure colors and free style of the European Fauves had the most lasting influence on her work.

Both McGill and Nyaphaga are painters and mixed media artists whose work refers to and incorporates African and African/American music.
McGill is inspired by American jazz and Nyaphaga has transformed his painting into performance art accompanied by live music. Both artists will be exhibiting paintings. Nyaphaga will also show his cartoons that comment on politics in the U.S. and events in Africa and the wider world. Nyaphaga's next exhibition of political cartoons will be in Beijing, China in 2012, and McGill's next show will be will be at the Santa Fe N.A.A.C.P. annual fundraiser event, An Afternoon of Cool Jazz, featuring the Faith Amour Quartet, on February 25.

For more information about the artists, consult their websites at: www.nyaphaga.com, and McGill's author page. You can log onto the El Museo website at: www.elmuseocultural.org or phone El Museo at 992 0591 for information about the exhibitions and associated events.